Mira Festival

Mira festival set inside a lofty post-industrial facade in Barcelona spanning 3 days featuring over 70 diverse artists is an immersive audio-visual experience. The festival is distinct as well as divergent in terms of it's artist line up. branding and visual narrative. While most spanish-electronic music festivals of the day seem to treadmill with the overwhelming presence of popular and 'commercially safe' acts, Mira festival from Barcelona presents an antithetic vibe with a rather minimal and an austere outlook. The festival featured 3 stages showcasing distinct sensibilities of electronic music as well wide ranging presentations based on immersive experiences. The Mira Dome (an enclosed structure with audio-visual and interactive content) was a constant 'bee-line attraction' on all days. Located in the neighborhood of Fabra i Cotes, inside a large refurbished industrial complex, the setting makes one feel somewhat nostalgic of the rave era yet the sound and visual energy all pointing towards a 'digitalized' future. Mira, which means to 'look' in spanish perhaps carried the subliminal message of the festival, with it's brand ambassador Sandro Rey (famous spanish tele-evangelist turned futurist) dressed in white wearing goggles, with a prophetic stance peering into the near future. All very quixotic and curious. The festival has come a long way from it's obscure grassroots beginnings yet most festival-friendly-folks from Barcelona cannot seem to recall the origins of Mira festival.

Into it's 7th year, the director of the festival, Oriol Pastor informed us that " There have been different milestones all along for us ... One of them was the Sound Dome we acquired in 2015. We have also increased the number of artistic installations and possibilities. This year we added a new 3D sound room with an immersive sound proposal "

James Holden, William Basinski, µZiq, Wolfgang Voigt and The Bug vs. Dylan Carlson slotted at the head of the cartel, drew large audiences as well as a surprising number of DJs and electronic music producers from Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid. Though on one hand bigger names often carry a big expectation in large format festivals, at Mira Festival the case was albeit reverse. The enigmatic and ambient overture by William Basinski, performing with tape-machines, laptop and effects had the audience transported to another dimension, setting some of the listeners to an horizontal position. William Basinski, in his mid-50s is a master of ambient electronic music and almost spiritual in passages, something rarely heard at electronic music festivals. µZiq performing with visual artist Florence To was a potent combination of retro-electronic routines colliding with 8bit logarithmic visual bursts. Some of the most notorious surprises included Paranoid London, a electro acid-rap duo which blasted the sound system via a barrage of analog synths : sharp in contrast to the subtle and minimal deviations of DJ Kelly Owens reigning over the 3D sound arena. Performances by Shoeg, a surreal ambient audio-visual artist from Barcelona and Voiski, a proto trance-tech artist from France, witness to the festival's diverse attitude towards new emerging talent. The cyber-punkish abstract electronica of Fantastic Twin was a reckoner into emerging patterns. The Bug (Steve Bug) performing with Dylan Carlson, a guitarist from the legendary drone metal band Earth was quite a brave flight of dystopian sound. The audience mesmerized by the sheer complexity of ambience, beats and depth of bass. The visual content at Mira festival as rich, as chaotic and as cutting edge at times. Each stage was visualized in myriad forms, by a dozen plus VJs casting their visual narratives upon the audience. See Full Line Up Here : http://www.mirafestival.com/es/

Mira Festival included various non-musical artists and technologists, often clubbed as emerging mix-media art-forms. The festival was also witness to several zany far-out ideas by artists such as Domestic Data Streamers, Comisario de la Luz, We are Muesli by Monica Rikic and LED mapping by ProtoPixel. Various short films, animation and media was presented as 'Fantastic Reality' and 'Evolving Worlds' : Two Groups presenting ideas based on emerging technology, communication and it's future manifestations.

What do we expect from future editions of Mira festival? What are you looking at in terms of audio visual content or direction?
We want to evolve as the content evolves. Our goal is to create spaces where people can develop and present projects viding the technological and art revolution that is zeitgeist.
Mira is a platform which links musicians, artists, scientist, gamers and all types of digital media and creators. (Oriol Pastor, Director)

Seven years since the birth of Mira what is the ideology of the festival?
After 7 years the team has changed, and it's formation consists of 8 permanent members covering all the aspects of the festival. From the music, to visual programming, to booking, production and communication. For example both James Holden and The Bug offered new shows at MIRA this year. James Holden played with a band, showcasing their new album, which is a mix of many different styles and sounds ... (Pere Martí, Booking Head)

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